Tashi Choling Center for Buddhist Studies

The Tashi Choling Center for Buddhist Studies is located in the Cottonwood Creek Valley (known locally as the Colestin Valley) of Southern Oregon, south of Ashland. Founded in 1980 by the Venerable Gyatrul Rinpoche, the center’s main purpose is to provide the formal instruction critical to preserving the teachings and rituals of Tibetan Buddhism

The temple at Tashi Choling was constructed to the standards of traditional temples in Tibet, with prayer flags and contemplative statue gardens. Inside the temple is a display of traditional Tibetan art and a library of sacred texts. Four times a month, the temple holds puja, or group practice.

A thirty-five-foot high statue of the Vajrasattva, the Buddha of Primordial Purity, is at the center of the garden, flanked by two statues of the female Buddha, Tara. The very large exotic-looking temple is visible from higher points for long distances, including from along Interstate 5.

Buddhist teachers and scholars travel from around the globe to give teachings at Tashi Choling, and an education program includes a Buddhist college that focuses on the development of future teachers and translators. Other programs guide laypeople at a less intensive pace that incorporates the busy schedules of Westerners and provides them with an opportunity to apply the teachings of Buddhism into their daily lives.